Useless Conversation

[Nebu]

If you're interviewing academics, by all means use brainteasers. It's not like they are living in the real world anyway. 

HEY NOW!   

[Yegolev]

Well, come on.

The brainteaser book was so I could learn some things to pose to my apparently uncreative son.  Wife isn't correct about that, and he's nine, etc.

Problemsolving is actually a pretty large chunk of what I do, so it does fit in a way, but the first question was more or less "You're shrunk to the size of a nickel and thrown into a blender, which will start in 60 seconds. What do you do?"  As a well-steeped corporate stooge, my first reaction is that I don't have enough information to answer.

[Margalis]

I think at this point if I was asked a brain teaser in an interview instead of answering I would ask the interviewer why they believe that asking brain teasers is an effective part of the interview process.

I would probably also point out that most brain teasers fall into a couple broad categories of solutions (like proof by induction) and when you ask them you are mostly testing whether someone is familiar with the handful of different solution types.

If they ever had any value (which they probably didn't) that value was definitely lost once they became common.

I have interviewed a lot of people in my day. Here is how you do a good interview (at least for engineering):

1. Ask things relevant to the position. This means if the job does not involve escaping from giant blenders or burning a rope on both ends don't fucking ask about that.

2. Ask about things on their resume in extreme detail. If they claimed to have done something find out if they did it, if they were one of three people that did it, or if they kind of helped the people who really did it. If you ask for details on what someone did and they can't remember or give vague answers then don't hire them - they should be experts on their own body of work.

3. Have some form of basic competency test, if for no other reason than to save yourself some time.

4. If you have a choice between two people, one of which who seems better overall and the other of which has skills that more specifically fit the position you should probably hire the former, unless due to schedule reason you need the person to hit the ground running fast or the specific skills are extremely narrow and tricky to learn. This is as easy mistake to make, you decide on some parameters for the position that are too narrow and hire a guy who fits them on paper.

5. Check references and learn to interpret what they say. If they offer up anything negative unasked be wary.

[Yegolev]

#3 could be #1.

[ghost]

Most of interviewing is gauging personality and work ethic.  I'm surprised that more effort isn't put into vetting CVs, but you see folks sneak through with fake degrees all the time.  In evaluating the CV appropriately you can determine if a person is truthful, which is a big part of doing a good job.

The interview shouldn't be an oral exam.  I see nothing wrong with asking an off the wall question or two (brain teaser, or what have you), but to make it the focal part of the interview is a bit much. 

[Lantyssa]

It'd really depend upon the brain teaser.  If it were too off-the-wall, I'd give the "Sorry, what?  Who spiked my soda?  Now how about asking me how I'd approach a crisis involving your servers or network?"

[Paelos]

A more relevent set of questions would be in my field:

- You find out a client has a partner that's embezzling funds. How do you react?
- You discover that a client has been giving you false information. What are you required to do?
- If you're in crunch time, how do you prioritize your work load? What methods do you use?
- The client's books are out of balance, what are your first 3 accounts you would check?

[Nebu]

I look for the following:

Enthusiasm for the job
Initiative and ownership of projects
Ability to self educate
Ability to problem solve
Ability to take criticism
Communication skills
Attention to detail

It usually takes me about 30 mins to get a handle on these things.  The CV is a great place to start.  I actually had a guy submit a cv for a postdoc position in my lab that was a scan of his original CV with things crossed out and edited in pencil.  I saved that one.

[Ironwood]

"You're shrunk to the size of a nickel and thrown into a blender, which will start in 60 seconds. What do you do?" 

Get out.

Next.

[Ironwood]

It's also wildly different than what we're talking about and entirely applicable to the position.

 

Depends what sorts of brainteasers and what sorts of job positions.

No, see, it doesn't because we were talking about the specific one posted about the Apple.

I'm kinda refusing to get into theory crafting, mostly because it's fuck stupid.

[Paelos]

Sounds like IW's response to most brainteasers would be to get in a time machine, go back and fuck your mother so her new son doesn't ask stupid questions. Next.

[Ironwood]

Oh now, come on, be fair.

It could be a woman doing the interviewing.

[Yegolev]

I was watching People's Court once, long ago, and some law students were asking questions of Wapner.  One started to ask a hypothetical and Wapner cut him off with "I only deal with real situations."  The guy says "OK, but what if-" and Wapner says: "No. Next question."

[Paelos]

It's because hypothetical questions are mostly nonsense. It's not often that anyone reacts the way they purport they would react in a hypothetical.

[satael]

"You're shrunk to the size of a nickel and thrown into a blender, which will start in 60 seconds. What do you do?" 

Get out.

Next.

That question actually seems like a decent one for some help desk/customer service job (interview). If it makes you feel weirded out then you might not be ready to handle all the weird stuff you'll hear from the customers in the job you applied for.   

[Hawkbit]

I like the 'peel an apple' question.  I hire community support people and wish I had used that one in the past.  I'll be sure to add it.  Much of what we do is getting people to certain parts of our website and that question is perfect to see if they can properly explain things.  

I tend to look for people that can sell themselves without a pitch.  The best interviews are usually a good 1:1 conversation and the worst are usually where I'm forced to ask questions and they're forced to answer them.

In fact, I push people to ask me questions in the interview.  I like seeing what people come up with.  If they just want a paycheck I get silence, or questions pertaining to pay/start date.  If they're genuinely interested in our company and culture I get more questions around those subjects. I look for culture fit, because that's super important, too.  

[Paelos]

Asking questions as the potential hiree is the most important part of an interview. People that don't realize that often also wonder why they don't get callbacks.

[Nebu]

An interviewee that doesn't ask questions didn't do their homework.  First sign of laziness and low interest/energy level.

[Paelos]

I did one a while back where I was glad I asked questions. The company was moving from the Cali area down to GA, and they were looking for people to fill in for positions. I found out a lot of key information through questions that scared the hell out of me.

1 - Almost no people from the prior office were being moved down. Instead, the parent company that bought the sub was replacing them with people from the Midwest operations. No loyalty there at all.
2 - There were no southerners in charge. Huge culture shock.
3 - They were overpaying for the position. That was a huge red flag because they were in completely ramp up mode. What happens to those overpaid jobs in a year when they aren't? Gone, most likely. See loyalty.
4 - They promised to move people that accepted the relocation into a new office. Turned out the new office wasn't ready, so they were stuck in this horrible temp cubicle thing next to the warehouse for another YEAR, with only a mens and womens single bathroom for the entire place of 70 employees. The parent basically lied to the people. Never a good sign.

[Sky]

"You're shrunk to the size of a nickel and thrown into a blender, which will start in 60 seconds. What do you do?" 

Use my superpowers to blast a hole in the side of the blender and fly out.

The ground rules were set that reality didn't apply to the situation. Unless I'm applying to a research company that has discovered a shrink ray and is run by cruel bastards.

[HaemishM]

Went to see Flashdance the Musical with the wife last weekend.

This one was absolutely horrific. 

FLASHDANCE.... THE MUSICAL.

I don't think you needed that last sentence. It's a bit redundant.

[ghost]

A more relevent set of questions would be in my field:

- You find out a client has a partner that's embezzling funds. How do you react?
- You discover that a client has been giving you false information. What are you required to do?
- If you're in crunch time, how do you prioritize your work load? What methods do you use?
- The client's books are out of balance, what are your first 3 accounts you would check?

Well, those are "brain teasers", in a sense. 

[Paelos]

Those are all things you are very likely to encounter in the first year of a job in public accounting. I know I did.

I'm less likely to get tossed into a blender.

[Sky]

Went to see Flashdance the Musical with the wife last weekend.

This one was absolutely horrific. 

FLASHDANCE.... THE MUSICAL.

I don't think you needed that last sentence. It's a bit redundant.

So was the bit about going with the wife.

[ghost]

You don't think I'd go to a musical without the wife?   

[Yegolev]

Little Shop of Horrors.

[JWIV]

An interviewee that doesn't ask questions didn't do their homework.  First sign of laziness and low interest/energy level.

Let me add a caveat to this -  Don't ask bad questions. 

Asking me and 2 other interviewers what value we each bring to the company is just stupid. 

[Segoris]

.nm

[Ironwood]

An interviewee that doesn't ask questions didn't do their homework.  First sign of laziness and low interest/energy level.

Let me add a caveat to this -  Don't ask bad questions. 

Asking me and 2 other interviewers what value we each bring to the company is just stupid. 

Because you take your inflated salary and don't actually add any value, you fucking leeches ?

Just asking.

[Yegolev]

Hidden requirement: Must Grovel

[JWIV]

An interviewee that doesn't ask questions didn't do their homework.  First sign of laziness and low interest/energy level.

Let me add a caveat to this -  Don't ask bad questions. 

Asking me and 2 other interviewers what value we each bring to the company is just stupid. 

Because you take your inflated salary and don't actually add any value, you fucking leeches ?

Just asking.

 

[lamaros]

The interview shouldn't be an oral exam. I see nothing wrong with asking an off the wall question or two (brain teaser, or what have you), but to make it the focal part of the interview is a bit much.

You sound like a small business boss. The kind that every employee secretly (or not so secretly) hates. No one likes it when you ask irrelevant shit. Often that ends up with ego games and power abuse.

You're a fucking dentist. Stop wasting peoples fucking time with that shite.

I've heard of a lot of stupidly similar stuff from optometrists too. Maybe they've spent too long in service industries that don't properly validate their crushing egos.

[Samwise]

So, serious question for the people whose interview time is too precious to waste with brainteasers: as an interviewer, how do you assess someone's ability to deal with unfamiliar problems?  This probably isn't a big deal for accountants or dental hygienists, but for some jobs, it's not so much what you know right now as it is what you'll be able to figure out on the fly.  I haven't come up with a good system for this other than general gut feel, and "I have a feeling this guy might be a moron" never goes over well as a reason in itself to nix somebody.

[Margalis]

When I did interviews for game development positions I often asked people about a problem I was currently working on or had just finished up on.

For example at one point I was writing an effect very similar to what was shown in the first X-Com shooter trailers (the 2k Marin game) where a thing is zapped by energy and burns away, so I asked people how they might create an effect like that. This is a reasonable question for a programmer or an FX artist, is relevant to their job, and requires some on-the-fly thinking. The answers you'll get out of a question like that are certainly more valuable than counting gas stations in New York or weighing liquids or some shit.

[lamaros]

So, serious question for the people whose interview time is too precious to waste with brainteasers: as an interviewer, how do you assess someone's ability to deal with unfamiliar problems?  This probably isn't a big deal for accountants or dental hygienists, but for some jobs, it's not so much what you know right now as it is what you'll be able to figure out on the fly.  I haven't come up with a good system for this other than general gut feel, and "I have a feeling this guy might be a moron" never goes over well as a reason in itself to nix somebody.

Unfamiliar to whom? If it's to them - then you just ask them the relevant questions (like Margalis posed). If it's to you - why are you the one interviewing them if you don't know what you're going to require of them?